12/17/2010

A 6 day trip in Darjeeling – Sikkim – INTRODUCTION

After a grandiose trip along the Ganges in April, Vincent came back to India in November. This time: Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Practical points

Be aware of the cold!! The temparatures this year in November in Darjeeling (2134m) were between 8 and 15°C. Same thing in Gangtok (1500m) but more humid.

It can be useful to take a torch: when you reach at 6 PM in a pitch dark night (because of electricity cut in the whole city), it is not so nice.

Other problem linked to the power cuts (we had 2 cuts in 2 nights): you are in a fine tea shop and your bill is quite huge. Hence you have to give your card because who carries so much cash? Well, they don’t take the card. So you go to the nearest ATM (also the only one in town) and… yes, it is off because it works with electricity!!

As for the history of the place (quite interesting): in the 1800’s, the British decided to map their Indian territory. They went up to Darjeeling which belonged then to Sikkim and where hardly a few families were living. They found the place would be adapted to a sanatorium for British soldiers.

They had a talk with the king of Sikkim and rented the place for a few rupees since it was an empty land. In the meantime, they build the city (I mean, Nepalese (Gorkha ethnie), Tibetans and Bhutanese did) and found it suitable for tea plantations.The city grew bigger and started attracting people from Sikkim which displeased the king. He kidnapped 2 Britishers who were touring in Sikkim. The Company sent a troop and the king released the 2 guys. To punish him, the English annexed Darjeeling.

And now (I mean since 1907) some of the people who actually originally populated the place are asking for independence from West Bengal and the creation of Gorkhaland.

As a consequence, the area is not so quiet at the moment because some people want the independence from West Bengal but that should not prevent from going there!!